Dr. Phil Brady on Writers Resist
Etruscans,
Yesterday, I attended PEN America’s “Writers Resist,” a rally on the steps of the New York Public Library, featuring reading, singing and reciting by over 100 writers, with chanting, sign-waving and hollering by thousands standing in the freezing courtyard. It was an inspiring gathering, and a reminder of the power and responsibility that writers have to deepen and broaden our sense of community and our belief in witness.
Hearing about “Writers Resist,” Etruscan’s founding funder, Steve Oristaglio, reminded me that Etruscan was inaugurated after a national tragedy—9/11—when Bill Heyen brought together a community of writers to share our grief and witness our anger.
In the light of September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond and in the light of so many of our books which express our national and our human experience, the Etruscan community is, I believe, a powerful agent of change. It is a potent assembly that we can marshal.
So, in this light that we ourselves shed, I ask us to come together now. I don’t know what form this gathering will take, whether it be book or rally or readings or blog or a joining of virtual hands—but I invite a conversation that opens avenues for Etruscan—as a press, an activist organization, and a community—to mobilize in this time of crisis on behalf of friends, country, planet and universe.
Thank you all for the light and love and power you share in rhythmic utterance.
Phil Brady Executive Director, Etruscan Press
1.16.17
